In my lonely campaign against braindead clichés I implored you all not to refer to the Notts County match as a "three-pointer". You defied me like naughty children. In fact many of you went out of your way to work the phrase into your posts just to spite me. Now I am warning you. If we lose to Reading, I don't want to read "Good, now we can concentrate on the league". You are allowed to think it, but just don't post it! I would be interested in the statistics of the subsequent league progress of lower division teams who have a good cup run. I am guessing in these days of large squads it makes,on the average, little difference either way. The extra wear and tear is compensated by the chance to give squad players a competitive game and the boosting of squad confidence from beating teams from higher divisions. Plus the extra revenue might suffice to buy another useful player or, more likely, hang on to one you might otherwise lose.
Completely agree, Eddie. Our record in all cups has been lousy for years, even when we had a good team. Frankly I'm sick of ignominious cup exits, and it doesn't help each year to read fans posting to say they hope we lose, glad we lost etc. etc. They really can't be representative.
You'll not hear it from me either, Eddie. This season, with so many good players to choose from and the competition for places so fierce, the League Cup, the Watching Paint Dry Trophy and the Kent Senior Cup (and to a lesser extent, the FA Cup) are going to assume an importance that they don't usually get anywhere near. These competitions are going to be a proving ground where the players just off the first team (and I refuse to call them second-stringers or some such name this season, as the overall standard is so much higher) can show what they're really made of and what they've got to offer towards gaining us the ultimate prize of promotion. I'd really like to lift the JPT this year, and the strict format for selecting the team suggests that this could be where we see the most imaginative combination of regular first teamers and those waiting in the wings.
But if we DO go out of the cup competitions early, then we really can CONCENTRATE on the league campaign. There is no denying that fact.
If we lose to Reading tomorrow night...... At least we'll be able to concentrate on the JPT & The Kent Senior Cup (the ones that the big boys can only dream of...)
i hope we get knocked out tommorow night so we can concentrate on the league (not really) I`d love a cup run and beating Reading would only be good for the team.
A cup run is all fine and well intentioned but unless you get to quarters (FA Cup) semi's (Fizzy pop ehhm?? whatever) or Final of painters and decorators they financially mean diddly. If we were to go out early we could then concentrate on the league which is far more important to the club long term. Above all concentrating on the league is the most important issue this season so let's fully concentrate on it Reading is (even this early in the season) a zero pointer.
After winning the six pointers against Notts and Col U, I can't believe there are people out there who want us to be distracted from the league campaign. League is first and foremost, and we must always concentrate on that. Maybe we could blood a few youngsters in this cup to rest the first team players for the main focus, which is of course the league. Especially with a vital 6 pointer against Bury coming up
I can't believe we have such an important 6 pointer coming so close to the 6 pointer against Scunny. We must concentrate on things, perhaps the players were looking forward to the Reading game and forgot to see the game out on Saturday?
Cup games are always a distraction, I agree AllHell. Concentrate on the league, forget about the cups.
That is the trouble with cup ties. They takes one's eye of the ball. With a 'cup final' at Gigg Lane on Saturday, it is best we screed over possible cup runs. Who needs such distractons?
We must all concentrate Tweaks no distractions [video=youtube;YfHbKTde-nE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfHbKTde-nE[/video] Now what was I saying?
I had to play that four times to try and figure out its relevance to football - after the first two, I didn't care.
AHLL - Thanks for the video from Holiday Programme 1996, lovely palm trees, hasnt Judith Chalmers changed!! Now cup runs,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, what was the question?
Recently we've been knocked out of the cup early whiuch has enabled us to concentrate on getting relegated, or on mid-table mediocrity.
2009-10: Four cup matches, always on the edge of promotion (including on the last day of the season), get into playoffs 2010-11: Ten cup matches, midtable mediocrity Let's concentrate on the league.
I'm sure he's going to be playing a different team, something like Sullivan, Francis, Doherty, Mambo, ????, Rubens (that Spanish kid), Alonso, Prichard, Green, Benson, Euell Would be good for the non-player players to get a run out. Especially if they get bunked up to the First Team. Want them to be Leauge Ready.
We need a cup run to keep the quality squad that we have interested and motivated. We need them to be shining in the cup games in order to win a place in the league side. The likes of Alonso, Bover and Pritchard are not going to want to sit on the side waiting for someone elses form to drop, they will want to show how good they are and press for the starting line up on a normal league Saturday. A good cup run will give them that opportunity.
